As we have just discussed the construction of magic squares with prime
numbers, the following forms an interesting companion problem. Make a
magic square with nine consecutive composite numbers--the smallest
possible.
... Read more of A MAGIC SQUARE OF COMPOSITES. at Math Puzzle.ca

Pasturing Young Grain

Would it be advisable to herd milch cows for a few hours each day on a
field of black oats which is to be grown for hay? The oats are now about
four inches high and rank, as the land was pastured last year. The land
is sandy, rolling soil and will soon be dry enough so that the cows
would not injure the plants. The idea is that the leaves which are green
now will all dry up and are really not the growth which is cut for hay;
therefore, I should think it would do no harm to feed it down a bit.

Over-rank grain with abundant moisture will make a more stocky growth
and stand against lodging if pastured or mowed. The leaves which you
speak of as being lost in the later growth of the plant serve an
important purpose in making that growth, and removing them is a
repressive process which is not desirable when rain is short. We should
allow the plants to push along into as good a growth of hay as a dry
year's moisture will give.